


Making Kai Happy

by trepkos



Category: Arthur of the Britons
Genre: Angst, M/M, Sexual Content, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2017-10-14 07:09:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trepkos/pseuds/trepkos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur comes to a decision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Kai Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Set after Episode 1.6: The Duel  
> Follows on from "The Challenge."

As Kai grips his arm at the start of the race, giving it a squeeze, Arthur feels a familiar thrill run through him – yet when he sees Kai’s brilliant smile on the other side of the steep bank, he knows more than just a physical gulf divides them. 

“Make me happy,” Kai said – and Arthur comes to a decision: he wants to. He wants to see Kai smile that way, every day of their lives.

So he rides like the wind to the shepherd’s hut, finds a stick, and spends a few moments drawing in the dirt. Then he drives his spear into the ground next to what he has drawn, mounts up, and sets out on his way again.

~~

Kai tells himself he should give thanks for the two nights they spent together – with their worst fight ever in between. He swore himself to Arthur, that last night, but he received no promise in return. Arthur said nothing for good or ill, and since then, Arthur has drifted away from him once more.

Of course, with Llud there, they have little privacy

But twice in the intervening months, Arthur has sent him away: once, to return the Saxon children to their people; once to bargain for weaponry. And if – when Llud went to visit Rolf – Arthur’s injury had not prevented Kai from taking the opportunity, his fury at Kai’s tactics against the Picts would have done so. 

It has been hard, waiting to see what Arthur will do; keeping his silence. His little brother seems so fragile of late, Kai fears to speak, in case their next fight proves to be their last.

And yet, over last few days on the trail, despite the gravity of their present mission, the clouds have briefly parted. If, on that last night before the battle, Llud had not pulled them back, who knows … they might have found some hidden place away from camp to snatch some precious time together, while the others slept.

As his horse thunders up to the hut, Kai looks around.

He expected to find Arthur waiting here to gloat about his victory; but all he can see of Arthur is his spear, standing proudly outside the hut.

An invitation, or a challenge?

As he retrieves the spear, he sees some scratches on the ground. He dismounts to examine them: two wavy lines next to each other, and, on the east side, a number of shapes: circles, squares, and one, an oblong bigger than the rest. An arrow points to one of the small circles. At the other end of the arrow, a straight line with a half-circle resting upon it.

Kai feels himself stiffen.

He obliterates the drawing with his boot, mounts up, and hastens for home.

~~

When Kai arrives back at the village, he goes about his usual tasks, trying hard not to let his anticipation show upon his face. Any time he catches sight of Arthur on some business of his own, he keeps his distance. Then, when the sun has half-hidden itself below the horizon, Kai, his heart thudding in his throat, slips into the hut where guests of the village usually lay their heads.

A torch burns in a sconce, casting its flickering light on the bed where Arthur lies. The fur that should be covering him has slipped, revealing his bare chest, his right flank and hip; even some of the dark hairs at his groin.

Kai’s prick stiffens.

He pulls his boots off, then looks up to see Arthur already on all fours, and giving him a hot, eager look over his shoulder.

Kai struggles out of his clothes, leaving them in a tangled heap, kneels behind Arthur, and spits on his palm.

“You won’t need that.”

Kai frowns. “What?”

“You won’t need it. Trust me.”

Kai touches the place where he would enter and gently presses; his finger slides in easily. He stares at his hand, splayed on Arthur’s behind, and huffs out an astonished breath.

Arthur has prepared himself …

Kai feels a pulse run through him; groans, and grasps himself – too late. He makes a helpless sound, then comes over Arthur’s arse; nothing he can do to stop it.

~~

Arthur laughs joyfully; Kai has just paid him the biggest compliment he could hope for.

But Kai backs off the bed, and stands holding himself, and looking at him with angry, frightened eyes. “What? Must you mock me?”

“I was not mocking –” 

“You laugh at me, you … you fight with me, you blow hot and cold, you want me, you send me away. What will it be tomorrow? Will I be by your side, or in your bed or sent to Gaul, or Spain or Rome?” Kai’s face contorts. “What do you want from me, Arthur?”

Arthur’s heart sinks. “What does it look like I want from you?”

~~

And when Kai thinks of Arthur’s slick hole ready for him to fill it; when he looks at the slim muscular frame, braced there, waiting for him to cover it with his own, Kai wants more than anything to be inside Arthur; inside him, surrounding him; owning him – if only for a moment – as Arthur owns _him,_ body and soul, every moment of every day.

But Kai’s treacherous tongue gets the better of him. “It looks like your prize stallion is required to do his job, before you tire of him again, and put him out to graze, or take him to market.”

Arthur bites his lip. “I should have explained.” He gets up, covering himself, and finds a linen rag to clean up Kai’s spill. “Llud spoke to me. When he came back from his cousin’s wedding.”

“Oh, Llud!” Kai scythes a hand through the air, and turns away. He still hasn’t forgiven Llud for his interference. “What does he understand of such things?”

“He understands. But he sees the way the wind blows. He warned me that I might, one day, have to make a choice – you or my command.”

Kai sniffs, and drags a hand across his face. It’s as he feared. He knows the respect the people have for Arthur; has seen the way they do his bidding, even when it runs against their nature.

How can he expect Arthur to give up his destiny, for a fuck?

That’s all he means to Arthur, he’s more sure of it now, than ever before.

He clenches his fists by his side, as more hot tears well up.

Then he feels Arthur at his back, his prick still half-hard, and his arms around him.

“I have been foolish, Kai, and I have paid a price. The first time I sent you away, I feared you might have stayed among the Saxons. The second, you were gone so long, I feared for your life. Each time you left, and all the time you were not near, I felt such pains that I could hardly bear it.”

“Then why –?”

“I sought to test myself, and you. I wanted to be sure that what we felt was real. To give you the chance to fly, if you so wished. But you came back. And finally, I knew that I could make no other choice.”

Heart in his mouth, Kai turns in Arthur’s arms. “And you chose –” 

“You. I choose you, and I always will.” 

A sharp intake of breath and then Kai fists his hands in Arthur’s hair, kissing him on the mouth, his eyes, his neck: afraid Arthur will change his mind again, and wanting to do everything he can, to rob him of the time to think it, and the breath to speak of it.

But Arthur strokes his face. “Shhh, it’s alright now Kai. Look – I am naked, I’m not going anywhere.”

Kai draws back, and brushes hair out of his eyes. “Is this real? You would choose me? Even if you lose –”

“There is no choice to make. You are part of me.” Arthur tilts his head. “Can a half-man lead his people?”

“And this?” Kai puts his hand on Arthur’s prick. “This is for me?”

“For you – and no one else.”

Kai can only stand there staring at him, shaking; then Arthur takes his hands, and leads him to the bed, never taking his eyes off him.

They lie down, facing one another, looking at each other with wondering eyes, then kissing, slow and lingering, until both are hard again.

“Now,” Kai says. “Where were we, before I made such a fuss about nothing?”

“I was about to make you happy.”

~~

Arthur slides his leg up over Kai’s hip, opening himself, and Kai slips a hand along the furrow between Arthur’s thighs, finding his entrance; caressing with the pads of his fingers.

And Arthur doesn’t hold back. He lets Kai see what he does to him; sets free the little moans and whimpers he suppressed, before, as Kai cradles his sac. It seems like an eternity Kai makes him wait, before he slips two fingers inside him, and when he does, Arthur grips Kai’s shoulders, and works himself on Kai’s hand, letting the head of his cock paint Kai’s belly. 

He looks into Kai’s eyes. “Thank you.” 

~~

It makes Kai feel like the king of everything, that he has the man he loves, so willing in his hands. He rolls Arthur onto his back, and Arthur looks up at him with adoration in his eyes.

Kai strokes that place inside with his fingers, just once, then pulls them out, and Arthur closes his eyes, taking shallow breaths that speak of his need, until Kai guides himself in. Kai shudders as he enters him; takes Arthur’s prick in his hand, and Arthur clenches around him, and cries out. Then Arthur is coming, and as he does, tears roll gently down his cheeks. 

Now Kai doesn’t know what to do. He holds Arthur’s face as if it were a fragile egg, and begs him, “No, no, please don’t cry.” He wipes the tears away with his thumb. But then he sees that Arthur is smiling through his tears.

“You don’t have to stop,” Arthur says. “I am happy.”

“Oh. You are?” Kai frowns, considering. It seems that all is well. He wonders whether he will ever understand Arthur. Who is looking at him, expectantly.

“Oh. I see.” Kai grins and gives Arthur a playful thrust with his hips. “But I thought this was about making me happy?” 

“Haven’t I succeeded?” 

Kai closes his eyes, and heaves a contented sigh. “Oh yes.”

~~

Kai sleeps, still with a blissful smile upon his face.

And Arthur resolves to do all he can to see that smile, and to deserve it, every day of his life.

~~

**Author's Note:**

> First archived here: 1 January 2011.  
> Revised: 30 August 2015.


End file.
